Publication Details

Peter James, I. J. Thorpe, Nikos Kokkinos, Robert Morkot and John Frankish, Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Conventional Chronology of Old World Archaeology. With a Foreword by Lord Professor Colin Renfrew.

British Hardback Edition = London: Jonathan Cape 1991. ISBN 0-224-02647-X. 24 x 16 cm. xxii + 434 pp. (with 19 plates, 85 figures, 20 tables, 13 maps). Out of print. British  Paperback Edition = London: Pimlico 1992. ISBN 0-7126-5518-2. Out of print.
US Hardback  Edition = New Brunswick, NJ.: Rutgers University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8135-1950-0. Out of print US  Paperback Edition = New Brunswick, NJ.: Rutgers University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8135-1951-9. Out of print
Spanish  Paperback Edition = Barcelona: Critica, 1993. ISBN 84-7423-576-6. Price 3600 Pts. Postal address: Critica, Arago 385, 08013 Barcelona, Spain. Status unknown
Greek Paperback Edition = Athens: Aiolos, 2006. ISBN 960-521-179-3. 24 x 17 cm. 526 pp. (with 19 plates, 85 figures, 20 tables, 13 maps). This edition includes as extras: an introduction to the Greek public (9 pp.) by Nikos Kokkinos entitled “Centuries of Darkness: a dozen-year reflection (1991-2003)”; a prologue (2 pp.) by the translator and archaeologist Antouanneta Kallegia-Gad; an appendix (22 pp.) with the 15 Frequently Asked Questions, as appearing on this website; and a leaflet (triptych) with a selection of 12 quotations from reviews, for and against. Publisher’s postal address: Aiolos, Charilaou Trikoupe 25, Athens 106.81, Greece; Tel.: (00301) 3301553; Fax: (00301) 3802859; E-mail: info@aiolos.com.gr;Website: www.aiolos.com.gr/grindex.html

Publishers’ Blurb The Old World has confronted archaeologists with many riddles, perhaps the most tantalising of which is the Dark Age, an economic and cultural recession so devastating it lasted for 400 years from 1200 to 800 BC. Or did it? The dates for the Near East and Mediterranean are derived from the highly regarded chronology of ancient Egypt, but could not that itself have been miscalculated? This is the pioneering theory proposed by Peter James in an intricate piece of scholarly detective work. Deciphering the clues from papyri and pottery, he and his team of experts search layer by layer through the excavated treasures of a vast area from Spain to Iran and from Denmark to Sudan, until they reach Egypt, the root of the labrinthine riddle. It is here that they unearth 250 years of ‘ghost history’. Once these are eliminated, fresh perspective is thrown not only on the reality of the Dark Age, but also on the Trojan War, the foundation of Rome, the origin of the Greek alphabet and the Golden Age of King Solomon. Centuries of Darkness is a masterpiece of archaeological reasoning which will revolutionise our view of the ancient world. Centuries of Darkness Table of Contents Acknowledgments xi Foreword by Colin Renfrew xiii Preface xvii 1. The Evolution of Old World Chronology 1 2. To the Pillars of Heracles 27 3. Beware the Greeks Bearing Gifts 56 4. The Dark Age Mysteries of Greece 68 5. The Foundations of Geometric Chronology 95 6. Redating the Hittite Empire 113 7. Cyprus, Ceramics and Controversy 142 8. Biblical Archaeology Without Egypt 162 9. The Empty Years of Nubian History 204 10. Egypt: The Centre of the Problem 220 11. Riddles of Mesopotamian Archaeology 261 12. The Exaggeration of Antiquity 291 13. The End of the Dark Ages? 311 A1: Dendrochronology and Radiocarbon Dating 321 A2: Greek and Roman Theories on Ancient Chronology 326 A3: The ‘Venus Tablets’ of Ammizaduga and the dating of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon 335 A4: Synchronisms between Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Hittites during the Late Bronze Age 340 Notes and references 345 Bibliography 395 Index 427